A Different Kind of Predator
by akira-ne
Summary: Haji survives the balcony, and Saya is awakened early to fight a new danger one that only Haji seems to sense...
1. Chapter 1

Kai walked closer to the lab, swinging his passcard and key on the orange lanyard. It had been a few days since Saya had fallen asleep… he missed her so badly. And how she had cried so hard, when Haji had not been there, after the balcony had crumpled on itself and buried him and Amshel…

Kai sighed as he let himself inside the lab, making sure the heavy door shut behind him as he made his way towards the room where Saya slept. His fingers felt strange suddenly, wet- he glanced down, rubbing them together and bringing his hand to his eyes. Blood…

"Shit!" Kai whispered, fumbling around on the wall for the light switch.

The lab was closed; it was pitch black inside, and when Kai finally found the switch and flipped it, fists ready to attack, he gasped. Blood streaked the walls, graced the floor in fat and plentiful drops. He frowned and stared, fear filling him when he realized the blood was headed the same direction he was- towards Saya. He slowly took a step, then started running. His fear grew as the blood kept on track, then he halted when he found a door ajar. Handprints, almost, and Kai felt chilled when he realized the print on the door belonged to a Chiropteran. He eased it open, checking the hall before he dashed out again. God, the monster had made it this close- he was terrified at what he might find when he reach-

Kai stopped so abruptly that he slid in a puddle of blood, catching himself on the wall before he fell. A Chiropteran lay before the open door to Saya's chambers, crimson-splashed and still. He approached cautiously, confused when he saw that the monster was dead. It had been stabbed multiple times, but from the blood on its claws and mouth Kai deduced that it had damaged whoever had engaged with it. A flash of white made him look a little more closely, nervously getting closer. A piece of bloodied, dusty bandage was clutched loosely in a clawed hand.

"Haji?" Kai asked softly, then rushed past the body and into the room quickly.

A man in dusty black lay crumpled before the glass chute Saya was sleeping in. Haji ran to him and fell to his knees, turning the man over with shaking hands. Long hair fell aside and revealed a dust-streaked, bloody, pale face and Kai felt his heart jump into his throat.

"Haji! Holy shit you're alive!"

Kai looked the Chevalier over and his excitement turned into worry. He was in very bad shape… his shoulder was torn, the muscle showing and even bone peeking through, and blood painted most of his clothes and the visible part of his chest that showed from the torn, dirty white shirt. Kai could see that a rib was snapped, jutting from Haji's flesh alarmingly. Kai fumbled through his jacket, finally clutching his cell phone and hurriedly typing in Julia's number.

"Julia! Haji's alive, he's here! I'm in Saya's room, hurry! He's really hurt, but I think he's okay… He fought a freaking Chiropteran like this, he has to be okay!"

Julia's sleepy voice turned excited and loud, making Kai cringe. She shouted a few instructions and then hung up. Kai dropped his phone and did as Julia said, laying Haji flat on his back carefully and rummaging through the lockers on one side of the room until he found a grey, woolen blanket. He covered Haji with it, then thought better and sat next to Haji's head, very gently lifting it into his lap and using a sleeve to wipe blood and dust from his eyes and mouth.

"I can't believe you survived that… And you saved Saya even when you were supposed to be dead! Fighting in this condition, christ… You're a tough little cockroach."

Kai kept up the soft monologue, knowing that what he was saying was stupid and didn't make sense but still knowing that in some way it helped. Plus, though he would never admit to anyone, he was relieved beyond measure that Haji had lived. He had become just like family, in Kai's eyes, and his temporary death had hurt.

"Must have hurt like hell, being buried under all that rock and shit… When you wake up you gotta tell us all that happened, and how you got in here and fought that Chiropteran like this. You gotta tell me if you love Saya, I have to hear it myself because I know it made her so happy and she thought you were dead… Wake up soon, Haji. We all need to see that you're gonna be okay…"


	2. Chapter 2

Kai heard something outside the room and carefully laid Haji's head on the ground, so that when Julia burst in she only saw him kneeling next to Haji.

"Haji!"

Julia set down a heavy bag, opening it and kneeling next to Haji. Her hands went to his neck, feeling for a pulse. She smiled then, pulling a stethoscope from her bag and very gently putting it against Haji's chest. As her eyes narrowed in concentration, Haji's Chiropteran hand suddenly flew up and grabbed hold her wrist, his grey eyes snapping open.

Julia gasped and fell back to a sitting position, startled. Haji regarded her for a few seconds, then slowly let her go and sat up.

"Easy, you're hurt pretty badly."

"Saya… she still sleeps. Can you feel it?"

Kai and Julia both looked at him quizzically, Julia taking the opportunity to remove gauze, bandages and rubbing alcohol from her bag.

"We can't feel Saya sleeping, no," Kai replied, confused.

"Not Saya. Something… it feels like Chiroptera, but it is different. David and Lewis have not picked this up on their equipment?"

"I haven't heard anything from them. Lay back down, I need to take a look at that shoulder. Broken ribs, I see," Julia murmured as she began pressing various points along Haji's lean waist and torso.

"Something is coming. Saya needs to waken."

Kai stared at him, wondering if the fall had done something to his head as well. The scrape on his temple was half-healed since they'd been here, meaning he was healing fast and well, but this crap about waking up Saya…

"If we wake her up early, won't she go insane again? Like Vietnam?"

Haji didn't answer, allowing Julia to bind his ribcage in bandages. The rib that had been protruding from his flesh was no longer visible, which seemed much too quick and strange…

"You're healing so fast… Haji, I've never seen this before except on Saya," Julia pointed out, tenderly touching his torn shoulder.

"You must tell David and Lewis. Something is coming, and it is dangerous."

"Well, what the hell is it? And why was there a Chiropteran in here, how'd you kill it so messed up like you are?" Kai asked, frustrated.

Haji looked to him, cool eyes not betraying a single emotion. As always, it seemed only Saya had been able to tell what Haji was feeling.

"I don't know what it is. I know that it is dangerous, that it sent this Chiropteran. It wants to kill Saya."

A chill went up Kai and Haji looked away, gently removing Julia's hands from high up on his thigh where she'd been examining a bloody gash. Julia gave him a look but left him alone, sitting back on her heels.

"How are you healing this fast?" she asked.

"When Saya sleeps, she does not use her power. To hide it from Chiropteran, I take it from her. It heals me and makes me stronger, so that I might better protect her as she sleeps."

Julia looked excited at the information, then jumped when Kai pounded a fist into the floor.

"Damn it, what's trying to kill Saya! She just… she was safe, and then she had to sleep and now something's after her again! When does she get to stop fighting?" Kai shouted.

Haji rose, still elegant despite the blood and dust and loss of his jacket. His hair spilled around him, the ribbon lost in the debris of the balcony as well. Kai turned his back and closed his eyes tight, fighting back tears of frustration, anger and hopelessness. A cool weight settled on his shoulder and he glanced at it in annoyance; Haji removed his hand, accepting the clean bandages Julia offered and beginning to wrap his Chiropteran hand with a graceful and practiced ease that hid how injured he still was.

"I will protect Saya. Until she is needed, I will allow her to rest," Haji finally said quietly, flexing his hand inside the bandage.

Kai ducked his head, then let out a sigh and nodded.

"So we just wait?"

Haji looked to him again, and Kai was surprised to see resignation in his chill eyes.

"Yes. We wait."


	3. Chapter 3

It had been days since Kai found Haji. In those days, Kai had slept at the laboratory along with David and Lewis, waiting for whatever it was that was approaching. They often wouldn't see Haji, who seemed to blend in with the night outside and during the day disappeared altogether. To Kai, it looked like he was shirking his duties as a Chevalier; he knew, however, that despite whatever he thought Haji would protect Saya no matter the cost. Whatever he was doing, it was for Saya.

"It's oversea. It flies near; tomorrow it will be upon land."

At the cool words, David and Kai turned in their chairs. Haji had come into the little cafeteria, and as he turned to leave again David spoke up.

"We still can't find this danger anyway on our resources. There's no signal, no trace of it, nothing. It's awfully strange that you can feel it, when we can't."

Haji regarded him and a certain tension began to slowly fill the room.

"The Chiroptera feel it. Half of them are hiding, and half of them obey," Haji finally said softly.

"Chiroptera are obeying it? Why didn't you tell me this before?" David asked, looking angry.

"I only saw this last night. Two Chiroptera were approaching this place, but one ran as they came closer. The other wasn't right, I could feel this; the same danger is whispering to us. As it gets closer it becomes harder to ignore it."

Kai frowned, a cold and terrifying thought zipping to the front of his brain.

"It can make Chiroptera obey it. It can control them, then? Does that mean it can control you?"

David glanced to Kai, the sudden tightening around his eyes showing that he understood where Kai was going with this. Haji was silent for a few minutes, then turned to leave.

"Answer him, Haji. Are you a danger to us? Are you going to be a danger to Saya?"

Haji paused at the controlled fear in David's voice.

"I don't know. I hear what it wants, and I feel compelled to obey it. But I belong to Saya, and only Saya. I will take my life before I endanger hers."

David didn't seem to like Haji's answer and got up as if to go after him when he exited the cafeteria gracefully. Kai gripped his wrist, taking another sip of his coffee. Haji wouldn't hurt Saya; he had told them that he would kill himself or allow them to kill him before he succumbed to the voice of the strange danger, whatever this damn thing was. That was good enough for Kai.

"That… that man is withholding valuable information. How are we supposed to fight this thing with him, _without_ Saya if he doesn't tell us anything?" David asked, jerking his wrist out of Kai's hand.

"He'll tell us. I hate to say it, but we can trust Haji. He'll do whatever it takes to protect Saya, and I think that means protecting us too. Like he said, we just have to wait."

Kai ran a hand through his unruly hair, tipping back in the chair and scowling.

"At least it's closer. We won't have to wait much longer."

'Though I wish it weren't coming at all', Kai thought silently to himself.


	4. Chapter 4

"Kai."

Kai looked up, scowling when he saw Haji disappearing behind the frame of the door. He sat up and stood, making after him. He paused outside the door to Saya's chamber, realizing the door was slightly open. When he peeked in he saw Haji standing before the tube Saya was sleeping in, one hand gently resting atop the glass.

"What do you want?" Kai asked, stepping up alongside him.

"You wish to protect Saya. You wish her to be safe as I do."

Kai nodded, annoyed and not sure where this was going. When Haji was silent Kai looked up at him, watching him. He seemed sad as he looked down at Saya, and it made Kai uncomfortable.

"I killed the Chiropteran with a dagger. Inside the jewel, there is an ounce of Saya's blood. It injects out of the tip of the blade upon significant impact. It is one of two, sister blades."

Haji held out a dagger with a large red jewel to Kai, and he took it cautiously. He turned it over in his hands, feeling how heavy and… good it felt in his palm. Upon closer inspection he could see how worn the metal of the handle was, and claw marks graced the braided wire of the handle.

"You used this one with your right hand, your monster one?" Kai asked.

"Yes. I am giving it to you. I know you will protect Saya, and so I trust you with that dagger. The sister blades were gifts given to me by Saya, long ago, when she still…"

Haji trailed off and Kai gripped the blade tighter; so this meant a lot to Haji, and here he was giving it to Kai. Kai sighed then, letting the hand with the blade fall to his side.

"So in other words don't fucking lose it. Gotcha."

"I know you do not like me, Kai. But I am hoping your dislike will not extend to purposefully destroying that dagger."

Kai looked back at him in surprise, then scowled and faced him as if to fight him.

"I never said I didn't like you! And why would I do something so stupid like that! I mean, is Saya gave them to you and you belong to Saya then technically they're hers and that would be destroying her stuff!"

Haji didn't respond, and for a few seconds Kai felt mollified that he wasn't fighting back. Then Haji gasped, gripping his Chiropteran hand tightly to his stomach as if it hurt.

"They're here. They know where Saya is," Haji said, looking at Kai with steady eyes.

Kai paled, suddenly helpless.

"What do we do?" he asked, holding the dagger tightly and wishing for a gun.

"Get David and Lewis. Let them know that the danger is here, and it is coming fast to the lab. I will go out and try to spot them."

Kai ran out the door of the lab, swearing, then skid to a stop and ran back inside. Haji was kneeling beside the cello case, taking another dagger from inside. He looked up and neatly caught what Kai threw at him, looking down at it.

"Call us, that way we get the message faster. And don't screw up and get caught," Kai scolded, then ran back out towards where David and Lewis were drinking coffee in the cafeteria.

Haji rose, slinging the case onto his back and gripping the now lone sister dagger tightly. The power was calling him, and this close he felt it acutely. He could feel how it concentrated on Saya, how it tried to force her to wake up. He stopped this easily, by taking Saya's energy so that the call didn't reach her, but it drained him and made him more perceptible to whatever wanted her.

Outside, he leapt high into the air and landed nimbly atop one of the building adjoining the labs, listening and feeling for it. It came from the east, cold and serpentine in its whispers and fluid energy. Haji gathered himself, then leapt up again towards the east and danger.


End file.
